Friday, September 28, 2007

BEIJING (AP): China said Monday it had boosted inspections of agriculture products nationwide in a bid to cut the use of banned pesticides and the overuse of animal feed additives and fertilizers. Ten people have been arrested and almost 100 offending companies shut down since August, Vice Minister of Agriculture Gao Hongbin said. Gao said the ministry was "targeting 100 percent surveillance of large and medium-sized cities'' in the hunt for illegal pesticides and feed additives. China's food chain is tainted at many levels by the overuse of pesticides and additives. While the problem has been common in China for years, it aroused international concern this year because of complaints about tainted Chinese exports, such as farmed fish in which U.S. and European authorities have found high doses of a carcinogenic antibiotic. Gao said authorities were also "targeting the illegal production, sale and application of five types of pesticides.'' He said the ministry was attaching great importance to agricultural inspections. There will also be random checks for pesticide residue in agriculture products. Gao said that since the inspection program was launched last month 10 people have been arrested and 95 companies without appropriate licenses have been shut while the business licenses of another six companies were revoked.

MIRI: The ban imposed by Brunei on vegetables from Sarawak has badly affected the income of farmers and tarnished the image of the state’s agriculture sector, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam. He said the state government was “very upset” over the move and would conduct a thorough investigation to see if the ban was warranted. “The ban was imposed supposedly because our vegetables contained too much pesticides. However, as far as I know, Sarawak has already drastically reduced the use of pesticides and chemicals in most of our farms,” he said when contacted yesterday. Dr Chan is also State Agriculture Modernisation Minister and State Industrial Development Minister. Brunei imposed a ban three weeks ago on commercially grown vegetables from Malaysia, the bulk of which comes from Sarawak, claiming that the vegetables contained dangerously high amount of pesticides. Dr Chan said Sarawak was also exporting vegetables to other countries like Japan and Hong Kong. “So it is obvious the quality of our vegetables are in tune with international health standards. It cannot be that our standard is so different from Brunei,” he said. Asked about the loss of income, he said it was “very big”. Previous statistics obtained from vegetable growers in Miri showed that at least RM30mil worth of greens crossed the border into Brunei from Miri district alone every year. “I want a full report from the relevant agriculture agencies and also from the health department to find out the actual situation,” he said. This is not the first time that Brunei had imposed such ban of greens from Sarawak. Two years ago, a similar ban was also imposed that lasted many months before it was lifted.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Wednesday September 26, 2007By SIRA HABIBULANGKAWI: In what is believed to be an inside job, Langkawi Underwater World has offered a RM10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for poisoning about 600 fish.Langkawi OCPD Supt Mohd Ali Jamaludin urged those with information to assist the police to bring the culprits to book as soon as possible.“We believe the poisoning was done by insiders. It was well planned.“We suspect two or more people were involved,” he said, adding that the crime had affected Langkawi’s highly-valued tourism product.It was reported that about 600 fish worth hundreds of thousands of ringgit were found dead in two large tanks and five smaller tanks of the old wing of UWL on Monday.Among the valuable fish that died were sharks including the white tip, black tip, leopard and nurse, and variety of stingrays including the rare cownose ray.“The fish started dying en masse at about 6.40pm just as the lights were switched off,” he said when contacted on Wednesday.Police have ruled out outsiders’ involvement because the inlets to the tanks were accessible only to UWL staff.Supt Mohd Ali also noted several weaknesses in the security system at the old wing including absence of CCTV and free accessibility to all personnel.He said police had taken water and carcass samples for analysis and the results would be known within a week.“The chemical used could be petroleum,” he said.The case is being investigated under Section 429 of the Penal Code for treason. If found guilty the offender is liable to a minimum fine of RM25,000 and or jailed up to five years.

NEW YORK: Malaysia has maintained its right to convert forests to other land uses such as agriculture although it acknowledges that deforestation may lead to climate change. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar told a special meeting of Tropical Rainforest Countries’ Leaders here on Monday: “It is to our own interest to conserve and manage our forest resources on a sustainable basis.”

He said Malaysia, just like other developing countries, should not be denied the right to development particularly to fulfil its obligation to eradicate poverty.

He added that Malaysia was blessed with relatively large tracts of natural tropical forests, which covered almost 60% of its total land area.

He stressed that any approach to resolve the problem of climate change must consider the differences between developed and developing countries.

“Developed countries have already reached a stage in their economic development where they should reduce emission of greenhouse gases,” he said.

At a separate meeting on climate change, Syed Hamid called on developed nations to take the lead on finance and economics in fighting climate change.

“Although much has been said about the need for more financing, the sad fact is that this has not been forthcoming.

“Many of the funds set up for these purposes come with conditions that sometimes render it impossible for some developing countries to receive any financing in their struggle to adapt to climate change.”

Speaking to Malaysian journalists later, Syed Hamid said there was consensus that climate change problems must be dealt with at a multilateral level and within the ambit of the United Nations.

He also said that Asean must have a uniform policy and act collectively to protect its natural resources.

Malaysia, he added, was working with Brunei and Indonesia to protect the heart of Borneo.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Alternative Methods Proposed To Detect Pesticides And Antibiotics In Water And Natural Food

Science Daily — Water or food of natural origins (from plants or animals) that we consume on a daily basis can contain unwanted ‘supplies’ for our organism, such as pesticides or antibiotics.

Research forms part of several projects financed by the Spanish National Institute for Agrarian and Alimentary Research (INIA) and the Ministry of Education and Science, in collaboration with the company Puleva Biotech.

A doctoral thesis carried out by Jorge Juan Soto Chinchilla, from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada), and directed by professors Ana María García Campaña and Laura Gámiz Gracia, proposes new analysis methods for the detection of pesticide residue (carbamates) and antibiotic residue (sulfonamides) in water, plant foods and food of animal origin (milk and meats from varied sources). These new methods constitute a routine analysis alternative to the analysis used until now.

The main goal of the work “New analytical methodologies, under quality criteria, for the determination of pharmaceutical residues in waters and food”, carried out by the research group “Quality in Food, Environmental and Clinical Analytical Chemistry (FQM-302)”, has been to develop new methods to detect residues in food of these contaminants below the Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) established by the European Union, in order to guarantee the quality of the product and permit its distribution and consumption.

Researchers point out, regarding water, that “the interest caused by control of residue levels of pesticides, which can be found in water as a result of treatment of crops with such compounds, is widely known. ”However, concern on detecting pharmaceutical residue, specifically antibiotic, is quite recent. The presence of these contaminants in fresh waters can cause a certain bacterial resistance or allergic reactions in the consuming population.

Innovative techniques

In order to achieve this, the study carried out by the UGR used techniques that have not been much explored in these fields. Cathodoluminiscence detection (CL) connected to Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPCL), or Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) with UV/Vis detection using an online preconcentration technique in the capillary itself, or detection via Mass Spectometry (MS). MS can also unequivocally identify the analysed compounds. Research has been specifically based on carbamates, a widely used pesticide family, and on sulfonamides, a group of wide-spectrum antibiotics commonly used in medicine and veterinary science.

Researchers point out that methods developed in this work could be applied in the future to routine analysis for this kind of residue control in plant foods and foods of animal origin, in Quality and Alimentary Safety laboratories, or in the detection of such contaminants in waters of varied sources. “These methods definitely constitute interesting alternatives to the already established and less sensitive methods which imply a greater consumption of organic solvents and generate more contaminant residues,” the author of the thesis points out.

FQM-302 research group has been working on the proposal of methods of detecting contaminant residues in foods and in the environment for several years. Currently work is being carried out in different doctoral theses which looks at the study of other pesticide families and their degradation products, as well as the study of other antibiotics such as quinolones and beta-lactams using the methods mentioned above.

Results of this work have been published in the following journals: ‘Analytica Chimica Acta’, ‘Journal of Chromatography’, ‘Trends in Analytical Chemistry’ and ‘Electrophoresis’.

Biopesticides are quickly emerging as important tools in reducing pesticide use and risk. Pesticide users have expressed such interest in these pesticides that EPA created a special division called the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division, tospeed up the registration of biopesticides. Biopesticides generally exhibit the following characteristics:* They have a narrow target range and highly-specific mode of action;* They are slow acting;* They suppress (rather than eliminate) pest populations;* Timing of application is relatively critical;* There is limited field persistence and shelf life;* They are often used as part of Integrated Pest Management programs;* They are generally safer to humans and the environment than conventional pesticides; and,* They usually present no residue problems.

There are two types of biopesticides, biochemical and microbial. Biochemical pesticides are structurally similar to, and functionally identical to, a naturally occurring counterpart, and have a nontoxic mode of action. An example of a biochemical pesticide includes pheromones. Pheromones are naturally-occurring chemicals that insects use to find mates. Chemically synthesized pheromones can disrupt insect mating by creating confusion during the search for mates, or by attracting insects to traps.

Microbial pesticides are naturally-occurring or genetically altered bacteria, fungi, algae, viruses, or protozoans that suppress pests by either producing a toxin specific to the pest, causing disease, preventing establishment of pest microorganisms through competition, or other modes of action. Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) is an example of a microbial pesticide. B.t. is a naturally-occurring soil bacterium that is toxic to the larvae of several species of insects but virtually nontoxic to nontarget organisms. B.t. is applied foliarly, or incorporated into the genetic material or crops, including B.t. corn and B.t. cotton. About 10-14 million acres of B.t. corn will be available for 1998 nationwide. In 1997, growers planted approximately 2 million acres of B.t. cotton. That number could double in 1998.

Monday, September 24, 2007

SRINAGAR (India) - A distraught Shahida Begum drank pesticide a day after her 26-year-old son was killed in crossfire between Indian soldiers and Muslim rebels in disputed Kashmir.Unable to cope with the trauma of losing her only son to the 15-year-old separatist conflict, the 55-year-old woman tried to kill herself last month but was saved by doctors. She was one of hundreds who try to commit suicide in Kashmir each year.``My life is no longer worth living after his death,'' she said, in her mud house on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.The unrelenting violence in the scenic Himalayan region famous for its pristine hillsides, forested valleys and soaring snow-covered peaks has strained Kashmir's traditionally easy-going society.Doctors and sociologists say the number of people committing suicide has soared since the start of the revolt, but data is sketchy as the violence has made it difficult to do extensive and long-term surveys.One study done in 1999 found that almost 2,000 Kashmiris attempted to kill themselves that year alone - and about ten percent of them were successful.The number of such cases is rising although Kashmir is overwhelmingly Muslim and Islam expressly forbids suicide.The trend comes against a backdrop of more than 40,000 deaths since 1989 in violence between Indian forces and Muslim rebels, including many civilians caught in the middle.An average of five cases of attempted suicide were brought to Srinagar's main hospital each day over the past year, said G. Q. Khan, the head of medicine there.``This is very high compared to one or two cases a day, 15 years ago - before the turmoil. We find most suicides are due to the turmoil,'' said Khan, who headed the 1999 study.Hospitals estimate around 40 percent of cases are not reported in Kashmir as many people who live in remote and mountainous rural villages choose not to tell the authorities. Attempting suicide is illegal in India and punishable by law.Khan said swallowing pesticide, used to spray paddy fields, was the most common method of suicide.Besides violence-induced trauma in Kashmir, unemployment, psychiatric disorders, family feuds and failed love affairs were cited as other causes for suicide attempts.``The underlying cause is the emotional trauma caused by the violence and mayhem that takes place everyday. People need help,'' said Abinah Nawaz, a psychiatrist.Gunbattles in villages and towns, landmine blasts, grenade explosions, abductions and revenge killings by militants are regular events in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state.Health experts and sociologists warn that if the violence does not ease, suicides will climb still further in the area, the focus of a peace process between India and Pakistan.``The entire situation has become so charged, so full of tension; sometimes one just cannot tolerate it. A small quarrel with a father can lead to suicide. Behind all this is the wider context of militancy,'' said Bashir Ahmad Dabla, head of the sociology department of Kashmir University.Last week, Fitr-ul-Hassan, a carpet dealer scolded his 19-year-old son, Adil Hassan, for not attending college classes.Minutes later, Adil swallowed over 25 sleeping pills. He survived after emergency treatment in a hospital. - Reuters

MAKRAJPET (India) - Even when Putta Shankara was lucky enough to find back-breaking casual work as a farm labourer, his debt to the local moneylender rose four times more than his earnings.At a daily wage of 30 rupees, it would have taken him almost 15 years without a day's rest to pay back the 150,000 rupees ($3,240) he owed, let alone the ballooning interest.Then the work, like Shankara's own tiny, abandoned fields, slowly dried up and he lost all hope.So, with monsoon clouds heavy over southern India, the 28-year-old drank some toddy, walked into his gloomy, dirt-floored room in Makrajpet village and hanged himself.He left behind a dazed widow, Laxmi, their 6-month-old son and 6-year-old daughter.``We could only cry, no words could say anything,'' says his brother, Siddaih, 38, looking around the room a few days later.``He was very depressed. He was behaving strangely. It was the pressure of the money lenders and the burden of his debts.''Across India, thousands of farmers broken by debt, drought and failed crops have killed themselves in recent years, mostly by hanging or drinking pesticide.No one knows just how many.Analysts estimate that more than 1,000 farmers have killed themselves since May alone, when a new Congress-led government came to power in New Delhi on a wave of resentment among rural and urban poor who felt left out of India's economic boom.``It's a crisis. An epidemic,'' says K. Nagaraj, an expert on farmer suicides and poverty at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in southern India, the worst-hit area.``The tragic farmers' suicides are ... an extreme symptom of a much deeper rural distress.''Almost 700 million Indians rely on the land for a living, often a life of wretchedness, hunger and disease, condemned to dirt-floored huts of mud-brick, straw and cow dung, working tiny plots that cannot support a single family.Makrajpet is an ugly, shambolic cluster of huts barely an hour's drive from Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh state.Hyderabad (``City of Pearls'') is a gleaming metropolis built on India's hi-tech dream with more brand-name shops and modern malls than the country's capital, New Delhi.But just as Hyderabad is a showcase for India's strong economic growth - among the world's fastest at more than eight percent in 2003/04 - the state itself has come to represent for many Indians the growing rural despair.Six years of drought have not helped. And this monsoon, again, the dark clouds promised but did not deliver.But Shankara's tragedy is not just due to bad luck.Economic reform has changed the way poor and illiterate farmers work their land, encouraging them to borrow heavily to sink wells, buy new high-yielding seeds or plant cash crops.Banks have now largely pulled out of farm lending; landlords, at least some of whom felt honour-bound to waive debts in the worst cases, have been replaced by new commercial lenders charging 25-35 percent interest a year.Often these same lenders sell supplies and services to the farmers, only to buy goods and equipment back from defaulters at fire sale prices to recover their money.``It's what I would call a classic case of predatory commercialisation,'' says Nagaraj.``The rural landscape is in a shambles. Agricultural credit and finance schemes have collapsed. Prices have pushed most inputs beyond the reach of the small farmer. For many, the move from food crops to cash crops proved fatal.''While farmers in some areas have reportedly killed themselves over debts as small as 8,000 rupees ($175), most around Makrajpet owe between 50,000 and 200,000 rupees ($1,090-$4,360).How do so many people, unable to get enough work to feed their families, dig themselves into such debt? Sheer desperation.Most of India's farmland is not irrigated. Millions of farmers rely on the capricious monsoon or wells sunk deep into the earth. But uncontrolled tapping of groundwater is making water ever harder to find, hitting small landowners hardest.This is partly why the suicide rate is so high in Andhra Pradesh, which is poorly irrigated and with few major rivers.Shankara borrowed heavily to sink three wells on his tiny plot, a little more than half a hectare (1.25 acres). All failed. Some farmers try, in vain, 10 times on a single hectare. At a minimum 50,000 rupees each time, such failure is ruinous.In Andhra Pradesh, the new state government - which also swept to power this year on a wave of rural anger - is supplying farmers free electricity and giving victims' families 50,000 rupees in cash plus another 100,000 in a fixed deposit.``We feel compelled to reach out to the farmers,'' chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara told the state assembly recently. ``Not only on humanitarian grounds but also for improving the overall economy.''India's farm sector accounts for 25 percent of gross domestic product: a sick farm sector hurts growth.In her home in Makrajpet, Laxmi, 25 but thin and short as a child, stares blankly, her eyes moist as she holds her son on her hip.Around her, and in the courtyard outside, friends and neighbours drink toddy and sit in eerie silence. Laxmi had to sell her wedding jewellery long ago and her future now is bleak.``I don't know what to do,'' she whispers, pulling at the threads on her ragged brown headscarf. ``I don't have any work experience. Now I have a baby to look after.''But she has no anger for her dead husband. ``He didn't do anything wrong,'' she says. ``He did the only thing he could do.'' - Reuters

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

MALACCA: Syarikat Padi Melaka has successfully undertaken a pilot project to cultivate padi on a 24ha site that had been abandoned for 10 years. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the padi, which was planted at Kg Padang Temu and Kg Ladang in Semabok in June was ready for harvesting. “We are expecting to get about 3.5 to 4 metric tonnes per ha compared to the average of 6 metric tonnes per ha,” he said. His speech was read out by state rural development and agriculture committee chairman Datuk Hamdin Abdullah at a ceremony to harvest the padi in Kg Padang Temu here yesterday. Mohd Ali said the state-owned Syarikat Padi Melaka had leased the land from 97 landowners for a three-year period to undertake the padi cultivation. “After the three years, the landowners can cultivate their land or continue to lease it back to the company for an annual rental,” he said. Mohd Ali also said many landowners had not cultivated their land because of labour shortage as well as the lower returns from padi cultivation. He said though 2,1762ha of land had been allotted for padi cultivation, only 1,801ha had been utilised, with an average yield of 3.5 metric tonnes per ha. “The yield is lower than the national average of 4.5 metric tonnes per ha and measures have to be taken to increase the output,” he said. Speaking to reporters later, Hamdin said similar projects would be undertaken in Alai, Kandang and Air Molek in the Melaka Tengah district and in Alor Gajah.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

MORE than 150 residents of Kampung Baru Air Merah in Kulim are appealing to the authorities to build an embankment along Sungai Air Merah to prevent further erosion along the bank of the river.

Resident Mohd Said Hussein, 76, said the current rainy spell had worsened the situation. He said following complaints from the residents, officials from the Department of Drainage and Irrigation (DID) visited the site but nothing had been done so far. He said soil along a 50m stretch of the riverbank collapsed on July 22, resulting in massive flooding at the village.

“All it takes is an hour of heavy rain. The rain causes the river to swell and this is causing fear and anxiety among the village folk,’’ Mohd Said added. He said the area badly affected by the erosion was the riverbank near Taman Melur where the erosion washed away soil of over one metre high.

“With Ramadan approaching,we hope the authorities will build a strong concrete barricade to prevent further erosion,” he added.

Another resident, Mahathir Saad, 34, said he had written to the Kulim DID but had not received any response.

“We’re willing to do a gotong-royong to help build the barricade as we don’t want our homes to be flooded each time it rains but we lack the funds,” he said.

Kulim assemblyman Boey Chin Gan, who visited the area on Monday said his service centre had alerted the DID to rectify the matter as soon as possible.

“I’ve been told that the department is taking action but is still waiting for an allocation as the budget involves a big sum,” he said, adding that he would contact the DID to expedite the matter.

Green no more: A portion of the Sungai Buloh Forest which has been haphazardly cleared.

PARTS of the Sungai Buloh Forest have been cleared haphazardly, with a large number of trees felled for an unknown development.

Despite nearby residents protesting the clearing that started on Aug 28 to the Petaling Jaya CityCouncil (MBPJ), the clearing continued uninterrupted through the weekends from 8am to 5pm.A site check by StarMetro on Saturday found parts of uprooted trees left all over the forest while larger trees were sawed and the trunks removed.

A Kota Damansara pro tem residents committee from Section 8, 9 and 10 said they met with PJ mayor Mohamad Roslan Sakiman a month ago to seek further clarification on the development of the cemetery.

“At that meeting, it was agreed upon that work on the present cemetery could continue but the remaining forest would remain untouched while the council looked for another suitable plot for a cemetery,” said resident Mallek Rizal Mohsin.

“The mayor agreed to call on the town planning department officials to meet up with us and we have been waiting since then but the never took place. Instead, the forest is being cleared.''Resident Noor Lelawati Khalid said the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) had found several government research papers on the forest that pointed to the importance of the forest.Among the documents was the MBPJ Local Draft Plan 2020, which pointed out that the Sungai Buloh Forest was rich in biodiversity and the main water retention area for west PJ.The report stated that the forest was important to control flood and erosion.

Concerned residents: (From left) Sudirman, Mallek, Nurual Azmi Zainuddin and Noor Lelawati have voiced out their fears over the deforestation to MBPJ.“It is categorised as a sensitive environment area where a large part of the topography is high and with a slope of 25%.“Any encroachment and development of the area will speed up the process of land erosion and disrupt the hydrological system and air quality of nearby areas like PJU10, PJU5 and Sungai Buloh,” she said, citing the report.

Noor Lelawati said the council’s own report already pointed out the dangers of developing the forest and residents could not understand why the council had not stopped the tree felling.“Despite calls to stop the project to preserve the forest, the deforestation continues indiscriminately,” said Sudirman Jais, adding that animals have been coming into residential areas in search of food.

“Since the project started, every time it rains, we have a flood of mud water gushing down from the hill into our drains and flooding the road.”The residents said they were extending an open invitation to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid to view the destruction and help preserve the precious 100-year-old rainforest that is the last low land forest in Petaling Jaya.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nearly 7,000 people in northern Iraq have been afflicted with cholera in past weeks, and 10 have died from the diarrhoeal disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the United Nations agency, said the precise source of the outbreak spanning three governorates -- Sulaimaniya, Kirkuk and Erbil -- was not yet clear, though polluted water was thought to be the cause. All public water systems in the affected areas have been chlorinated, and samples are being regularly collected and tested to ensure potable water standards are met, she said. A woman allegedly contaminated with cholera, is seen in a hospital in Sulaimaniya in Iraq in this August 29, 2007 file photo. (REUTERS/Sherko Raouf)"In controlling the spread of cholera WHO does not recommend any special restrictions to travel or trade to or from affected areas," the Geneva-based agency said in a statement. According to WHO figures, more than 3,000 people in Sulaimaniya fell ill with acute water diarrhoea linked to cholera between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6. Nine people there died. Kirkuk had more than 3,700 cases of acute diarrhoeal disease, and one related death between July 29 and Sept. 2. Kirkuk has its first case of cholera confirmed on Aug. 14, and six laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera have been recently been reported in Erbil, the WHO said in a statement. The International Committee of the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), and United Nations agencies including UNICEF and the U.N. Development Programme have joined WHO efforts to respond to the cholera epidemic. These groups have been distributing antibiotics and oral rehydration salts, supporting water monitoring, and educating the public about ways to avoid cholera, which can kill even healthy people in a few hours due to dehydration, Chaib said. Sudden, large outbreaks of cholera are usually caused by a contaminated water supply. The disease is rarely transmitted by person-to-person contact.

TRADERS Hotel staff members went ‘green’ when they celebrated the ISO Week recently. Themed ‘Heal the World’, the hotel organised a series of activities for staff and guests to help raise their awareness and care towards the environment. The ISO Week was launched at the hotel's entrance, kicking off its main highlight and first event – the ‘Cycle to Recycle’. The first 10 cyclists left the hotel at 9.30am and headed to Auto Bavaria on Jalan Anson, where the second team took over and went on to Sunrise Tower's Pizza Hut in Gurney Drive. They then met the third team at Gurney Tower, which took over the bikes and cycled to the final stop at Singapore Airlines on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah before heading back to the hotel. At each stop, a representative of the hotel presented bonsai plants to the businesses’ managements as a gesture of appreciation for letting the cyclists rest and handover their bikes. The hotel also later set up a collection booth at its entrance from 9am to 1pm to gather recyclable materials from the public. The ISO Week also included programmes for the hotel’s staff like environmental talks by the Department of Environment deputy director Muniandy Mariappan and Department of Occupational Safety and Health deputy director Hazlina Yon, and a recycle art competition. There were four screenings of the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for the staff and hotel guests at the hotel. SMK Union students were given a tour of the hotel to learn about water and energy conservations, waste disposal and chemical storage.

"We have received numerous complaints and reports on unlicensed imported foods being sold in the open here."We urge the authorities to investigate the matter," he said after officiating at the annual general meeting of the Johor Farmers Association here yesterday.

Abu Zahar hoped that the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry would conduct more tests on vegetables being sold in the markets to determine the amount of pesticide used.

"The level should not exceed the danger level so that the vegetables are safe for consumption," he said.Abu Zahar said the ministry should also be more consistent with its enforcement practices and the awarding of licences to importers of food items.

"We do not know the standards used in food processing overseas and whether the food is suitable for consumption. We hope the ministry will run more stringent checks before they issue the licences.

"This will reassure consumers of the quality of the food items being sold."

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

KUCHING: The move by Brunei authorities to ban the import of vegetables from Malaysia, particularly from Sarawak, over the past three months has affected vegetable growers in the state. A member of the FAMA Board of Directors, Fadillah Yusof, said the ban was believed to be due to the high level of chemicals and pesticides found in vegetables exported by Sarawak to Brunei. “We will seek the cooperation of the Sarawak Agricultural Department to educate vegetable farmers on the use of pesticides and chemicals,” he said. This could help lift the ban, he added. Fadillah said this after launching an upgrading work at the Satok Weekend Market here on Saturday. Fadillah, who is also Member of Parliament for Petra Jaya, said the sale of jungle fruits and naturally-growing plants from Sarawak were still accepted by Brunei authorities. He said, besides the import of vegetables from Sarawak, Brunei also imported vegetables from Sabah. On Aug 28, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the contamination of vegetables in the country was under control and the Health Ministry was monitoring the situation constantly. He said the ministry would take appropriate action if the level of pesticides found in vegetables exceeded the permissible level under the Food Regulations Act 1985. – Bernama

By BEH YUEN HUIBATU PAHAT: Food and pharmaceutical products from China have been put on the highest alert after some of them were found to contain harmful elements and violating specifications. Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said these products were placed on Level Five of the imported foods monitoring scale, which is the highest. Under this, he said all food, including herbal products and health supplements, must be tested before they were allowed to enter the country. It also required that pharmaceutical products from China be registered with the Health Ministry and for the importer to obtain a licence for each product. Dr Chua said the food products would be tested for pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals and other matter which would have negative health effects. He said imports from China would only be allowed into the country if they were safe for consumption, otherwise, they would have to be destroyed or returned. “With all the tests and requirements, we can be assured that all products in the market are safe,” he said. Dr Chua said that in the first seven months of the year, 217 pharmaceutical products were found to have not followed the specifications set by the ministry. He said warnings and other actions, including revoking licences and cancelling registrations, were taken against offenders. He said 18 types of food were also found to have violated the Food Act 1983. He said the products that included honey, red dates, seaweed, preserved fruits and salted vegetables and preserved salted radish contained, among others, chloramphenicol, heavy metals and benzoic acid. Dr Chua, who is also Johor MCA chairman and Labis MP, was talking to the press after attending the launching and ground-breaking ceremony for an upgrading project of the hospital here yesterday

NEWINGTON, Conn. --Environmental officials are checking the air quality as firefighters work to control a fire in a barn where pesticides were stored.

Newington fire officials say the blaze broke out in a former chicken coop on a side street near the Berlin Turnpike, releasing pesticide fumes into the air in the dense smoke.No injuries are reported, but people who live nearby were ordered out of their homes and local roads are closed. Fire crews from several area towns are assisting.

The state Department of Environmental Protection also is conducting air-quality tests in the area.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

FRUIT and veg given to thousands of school children contains 27 per cent MORE pesticides than shop-sold produce, a study reveals.

Nearly 170 samples supplied under the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme were tested by Government food scientists.

At least one pesticide was found in 84 per cent. And 65 per cent showed traces of more than one.The scientists from the Pesticide Residues Committee also tested 882 samples of the same non-organic fruit and vegetables on sale in shops in 2004.

Just over half — 57 per cent — contained pesticides, while 36 per cent had multiple traces.The figures were released in a new report by campaign group the Soil Association.

“But it is wrong for a scheme that provides produce to the most vulnerable in society to source lower quality fruit and vegetables.“These contain a higher proportion of pesticides, and pesticide cocktails, than the fruit and vegetables available in shops.”

He added: “It is vital that children eat more fruit and vegetables.“To encourage this the school fruit scheme needs to focus on sourcing high-quality produce, wherever possible from the UK. We need zero pesticides.”